No closures for 2009!
I just got off the call for the ASMFC meeting today. It took over 1.5 hours for me to even get into the call. So I missed the presentation on black sea bass and the public comment as well. Apparently they only had available seats for 50 callers in the conference call. After Tom Fote, the Governor’s Appointee to the ASMFC, was also kicked out of the call they suspended the call and increased the available seats.
They then re-opened the floor to public comment in favor for a motion to close black sea bass. The motion to close the remainder of the 2009 black sea bass season was overruled 7 votes against and 4 for.
There was no motion on the floor for scup or summer flounder.
There were several states that asked questions as to how the projected landings were calculated and there were some very concerning answers given. The projections were calculated on the 2008 seasons, bag limits and minimum sizes. If any of the states had put in place shorter or longer seasons, changed bag limits or minimum sizes those regulations were not used in the projections. Most states have changed seasons, bag limits and minimum sizes on summer flounder in particular, sea bass has pretty much remained unchanged over the past few years.
The ASMFC had acknowledged they had problems and this was one of their first webinar and conference calls but they were pleased with the amount of callers and attendees to the webinars and that they had more people on the conference call than have ever attended a board meeting. They hope to continue with this forum and look to work out the kinks to be able to provide more opportunity for the public to be involved with the process.
